Liquid spreading apparatus



Oct. 25, 1932. J. c. WOODCOCK LIQUID SPREADING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24,1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l i BY iw /f' ATTORNE Oct. 25, 1932. J. c. WOODCOCK1,884,475

LIQUID SPREADING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 if Z9INVENTOR JZsep/fi C flfaw/Car f ATTORN EY Patented Oct. 25, 1932 OFFECEJOSEPH C. WOODCOCK, OF CLIFFSIDE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO THE BARRETTCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY LIQUIDSFREADIITG APPARATUS Application filed October 24, 1929. Serial No.402,217.

This invention relates to apparatus of the kind used to coat highwayswith tar products, liquid asphalt and like materials which are usuallyapplied to road surfaces to serve as 5 binders for the particles of theroad material.

Liquid spreading apparatus of this kind comprises a tank for the liquidmounted upon a motor vehicle or other suitable means for moving it overthe road to be coated, and at 19 the rear of the vehicle a liquiddistributing mechanism is provided to which the liquid flows, or ispumped, or is forced by air pressure from the tank, and by which it isapplied to the road in a track or swath which may be about the samewidth as the vehicle but is ordinarily somewhat wider.

The coating materials are usually viscous to a high degreeandaccordingly the liquid distributing apparatus or mechanism must bearranged to handle such liquid and to apply it evenly over the entirewidth of the track or swath, and it is with such liquid distributingmechanism that the present invention is especially concerned.

Uniform covering or distributing of the liquid throughout the width ofthe track is of considerable importance since it is desirable that theliquid be applied to the road in such manner that no relatively barestreaks be left, my nor streaks produced to which an excessive amount ofliquid has been applied. In the apparatus heretofore used for this work,the liquid has been applied to the road surfaces by means of a pluralityof nozzles arranged crosswise of the vehicle in properly spaced relationto deliver to the road a plurality of overlapping streams or sprayswhich together make up the track or swath of liquid which the sprinklingapparatus applies to the road as during an excursion thereover.

It is necessary to be able to vary the amount of liquid applied to theroad in accordance with the widely diiferent kinds and conditions ofroad surfaces to be treated. Merely changing the extent of the valveopening controlling the flow to the main provided with discharge nozzlesin the equipment which has previously been proposed, usually resultseither in coating the road too heavily 5c in streaks where the streamsor sprays overlap, or in reducing the width of the streams so that theydo not overlap and thus leave dry streaks.

Moreover in the liquid spreading equipment now in general use with whichIam 55 familiar, the control of the density of the application by merelychanging the valve settings is impracticable because of the extremeviscosity of the tar products which it is desired to apply to the roadsurfaces, and when it is desired to change the quantity 4 of materialapplied to the road, it is necessary to remove one set of nozzles fromthe equipment and install another set of the desired size. This makes itnecessary to provide several sets of nozzles which in the first placeare rather. expensive, and in the second place are very inconvenient touse.

My invention aims to provide a liquid distributing or spreadingmechanism which will give a substantially uniform covering of the liquidover the entire width of the track or swath. I

One object of my invention is to provide an apparatus in which theamount of liquid 75 applied can be positively and readily controlled,and at the same time a uniform distribution throughout the width of thetrack preserved, or in other words, permit of a lighter or heavierapplication without leav- 8Q ing either bare streaks or streakscontaining an excessive amount of liquid.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus by means ofwhich a known or predetermined amount of liquid can be applied to theroad which can be varied in accordance with existing conditions of theroad or other surface to be coated without having to use sets ofinterchangeable nozzles. Thus the covering or application, that is, the9C. amount of liquid applied per square foot, necessary for variouskinds and conditions of road surfaces can be determined in advance bytest or otherwise, and the apparatus of the present invention providesmeans by 9;- which this desired predetermined amount of liquid can beapplied.

Another object of my invention is to improve the construction ofliquid-distributing apparatus so that it will more efiectively disit:

tribute the liquid and be more convenient to operate than theapparatuses now in use.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated by way of example thepreferred embodiment of my invention. In these drawm ig. 1 is a sideelevation of the rear portion of a tank vehicle equipped with myimproved liquid spreading apparatus, a portion being broken away andshown in central vertical section;

Fi 2 is a rear elevation of the tank vehic e;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged rear elevation of a s ray bar or manifold fordistributing the llquid to the eight distributing nozzles thereon. Thisspra bar is double the size of the bar shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the spray bar illustrated in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical transverse section taken on line 5-5 ofFig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing a sectionthrough one of the nozzles and nozzle control valves.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;and

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the orifice plate valve element.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the li uid to be sprayed uponthe road is containe in a tank 10 mounted upon a suitable vehicle, fortravelling over the surface of the road which is to be treated. Theliquidspreadin mechanism is located at the rear of the vehic e andcomprises a plurality of nozzles 11 mounted upon a spray bar 12 andhaving their mouths directed toward the surface of the road, andpreferably in a substantially vertical direction. In the form of theinvention as shown in Fig. 2, two spray bars 12 are each attached bymeans of a screw connection 13 to the ends of a manifold pipe 9 which issuitably connected substantially midway of its ends with a centrallylocated vertical supply pipe 14 extending downward- 1y from the bottomof the tank 10. Each of t e spray bars 12 in Fig. 2 are shown providedwith four nozzles. According to a preferred form of this invention,spray bars such as shown in Fig. 3 having eight distributing nozzles maybe connected to the ends of manifold 9, the ends of these spray barsextending beyond the wheels of the vehicle so that a swath twice as wideas that produced by the arrangement of the nozzles in Fi 2 would beformed.

here is shown in the supply pipe 14 a rotary pump 15 by means of whichthe liquid from the tank 10 is delivered under suitable pressure to thespray bar and the liquid distributing nozzles. The pump is notessential, however, and the liquid may, if desired, be allowed to flowto the liquid spreading mechanism under the head in the tank 10 or besupplied under air pressure. There is also provided in supply pipe 15 ahand valve 16 by which the supply of liquid to the distributingmechanism can be cut oil when the spraying apparatus is not in use.

During the operation of spreading the liquid upon the road, the valve 16is opened and left open and the supply of liquid to the distributingnozzles is under the control of a lift valve 17 which is arranged to bereadily operated from the vehicle drivers seat by means of thevertically movable valve stem 18, the crank lever 19 and the rod 20.

The rotary pump 15 may be driven in any appropriate manner but the driveis pr ably cil'ected by means of a chain 21 opcrm tively connecting asprocket 22 on the pump shaft 23 with a sprocket 2-1 mounted upon one ofthe rear wheels of the vehicle. In this way the pressure of the liquidto be supplied to the nozzles is directly proportional to the speed ofthe vehicle so that when the vehicle is being operated at acomparatively slow speed a comparatively small amount of liquid isforced through the nozzles, and as the speed of the vehicle isincreased, a cone spondingly larger amount of liquid is caused to passthrough the nozzles and be apnlied to the road surface.

The spray bar 12 is of a particular con struction, having arms extendingin opposite directions from the central connecting inlot 13. The armsare substantially rectangular in cross-section and the passagewaysthrough them are preferably of the same shape, the cross-sectional areaof these passageways decreasing gradually toward the outer ends of thearms. There are distributing necks 26 arranged in staggered relation onthe front and rear sides of arms 25, each of these necks having flanges27 on which the nozzles 11 are mounted by means of their individualvalve casings 28. The passageways in the distributing necks 26 are alsorectangular in shape as is shown in dot-- ted lines in Fig. 3. Thecross-sectional area of thcserectangular passageways both in the arms 25and in the distributing necks are made larger than the area of themaximum valve opening so that even with maximum flow of liquid throughthe spray bar the pressure at the entrance of all of the valves isequal.

The spacing of the necks 26 and thingies on the spray bar such as tobring the dis charge outlets 29 of the nozzles in equally spacedrelation lengthwise of the bar, and as will be later explained, thedischarge streams 30 from the respective out-lets lengthwise of thespray bar produce layers or strips of liquid on the ground which meet asshown in Fig. 2. In practice, with the nozzles 12 inches above the levelof the road, a cone or spray 12 inches wide, i. 0., a cone the diameterof the base of which is 12 inches, is formed.

At the right hand end of the spray is shown an additional flange 31covered a cap 32. he cap may be removed and an additional nozzle mountedin its place so as to increase the width of the swath or track which iscoated by the passage of the apparatus over the road.

The construction of the individual nozz es and valves is illustrated inFigs. 5 to 7 inclusive. in which there is a suitable centrifugal (3118111- ber 33 circular in horizontal cross-section as shownin Fig. 6,and having the restricted circular opening 34 in its bottom. Preferablythe discharge mouth 29 which causes dis charge of the liquid material ina vertical direction widens out in tl e for a of a 0.. 1e below therestricted opening The of the outlet 29 and the opening 34 is concentricwith the axis of chamber 33. The nozzle inl 35 which permits flow ofmaterial in a hori zontal direction is at one side of the chamber 33 andthe outer side of the inlet is tangent to the outerwall of the chamber.

Liquid entering the chamber throughthe horizontal inlet 35 therefore issubjected to a centrifugal action or in other words is given a rotary orwhirling motion, the rapidity of rotation depending upon the velocity ofen try. The floor 36 of chamber 33 slopes from the circular walls of thechamber toward the restricted opening 34 and as the rotating liquid isforced onward by the liquid b ind it, it passes over this sloping floorincrea in velocity and finally being d'scharged through the restrictedopening 34 and the outlet 29. The liquid retains its rotary motion as itis being discharged and descends to the surface of the road in the formof the cones 30 previously referred to.

Th flow of liquid into the inlet 35 of each of the nozzles is controlledby the movable orifice plate 37 provided with critic-es 38. 39. 40 and41, diiiering in size. The ori .ce plate 37 is conveniently madecircular in form and mounted on a shaft 42 which projects through thevalve casing 28 and is squared at its outer end as indicated at 43 forthe reception of a wrench 44 by which the slate may be moved to bringthe various orifices successively opposite. the inlet 35.

The orifice plate 37 rotates between the valve casing 28 and flange 27in a circular recess in casing 28. It is important that the outer faceof the orifice plate 37 be held in close engagement with the bottom ofthe recess in casing 28, and for this purpose a pin 45 extends throughthe center of shaft 42 and engages the flange 27. The outer end of pin45 is enlarged and screw-threaded into a tapped hole in shaft 42 and canbe adjusted by means of a screw driver.

In order that the orifices be easily centered with respect to the inlet35, a springpressed frictional locking pin 46 is mounted The nozzleitself consists of a castingin an aperture in the valve casing 28 and enages depressions 47 in the orifice plate.

In order to lubricate the orifice plate and to effectively seal thevalve against leakage from one orifice to another and around the orificeplate, a fitting 43 is provided by which a lubricant and sealing medium,such as a socalled high temperature grease, may be injected under prssure into the recess in which the orifice plate rotates.

By placing a valve such as the orifice plate 37 at the entrance to thecentrifugal chamber of the nozzle, the amount of liquid admitted to andpassed through each nozzle can be controlled or regulated withoutmaterially ltering the size of the conical discharge stream 30. ll henonly a comparatively small amount of liquid is being sent through thenozzle the discharge cone is hollow, and as the flow is increased thewalls of the hollow cone increase in thickness but the diameter of thecone where it iilres the ground does not change substantially if the hei'ht of the cone above the ground is unchanged.

Because of the above the spacing of the nozzles 11 on t is spray bar canbe made such that the discharge cones lengthwise of the spray bar meetone another upon the ground do not overlap, i. e. the bases of the conesformed by adjacent nozzles lengthwise of the spray bar are substantiallytangent to each other notwithstanding variations in the amounts ofliquid fed through the nozzles. Thus what mightbe considered a uniformstrip or layer of coating material transversely of the path of movementof the spraying vehicle is imparted to the road or other surface. hecones formed by the row of rear nozzles, it will be noted from Figs. 1and 2, overlap those formed by the row of front nozzles, the overlappingoccurring in the direction of movement of he spraying vehicle. As thevehicle moves continuously at a substantially constant rate thereresults a uniform double layer of spraying material on the road. Bypositioning the orifice plate controlling the rate of flow into eachnozzle so that flow occurs through either the row of rear or frontnozzles, one-half the application of coating material may be imparted toa given surface than would result if both the front and rear rows ofnozzles were used to apply the coating material to this surface. Inpractice it has been found that my invention results in the applica ionof a layer of uniform thickness throughout the entire width of the swathwithout danger of leaving bare streaks or streaks produced by doubleapplication. Moreover with the apparatus of my, invention it is not onlypossible but practicable at all times to lrnow exactly how much materialis being up .ed to the road per square yard because the speed of thevehicl and the pressure in the spray bar can be readily heldsubstantially constant and at known and predetermined values, and theorifice valves provide means whereby the exact flow of material throughthe valves and nozzles can always be known when the pressure in thespray bar is known.

It will be obvious that by positioning the orifice plate in all thenozzles of one spray bar so that no flow thercthrough occurs, a swath ofone-half the width than would result from operation of the flow throughboth spray bars may be formed.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for spreading liquid upon roads, a spray bar, tworows of centrifugal nozzles, one on each side of said bar, the nozzlesof one row being staggered with respect to those of the other row andeach nozzle being provided with an inlet opening eccentric to the axisof the nozzle and an outlet opening concentric to said axis to produce aconical discharge stream, a movable orifice plate, provided with aplurality of orifices differing in size for controlling the rate of flowof liquid admitted to each of said nozzles, mounted at the inlet of eachof said nozzles and means to move said orifice plate to bring saidorifices respectively opposite the inlet of said nozzles.

2. In an apparatus for spreading liquid upon roads, a vehicle for movingthe apparatus over the road to which the liquid is to be applied, a tankfor the liquid on said vehicle, a discharge outlet from said tank and amanifold connected to said discharge outlet, said manifold comprising asubstantially straight spray bar having an inlet connection and armsextending in opposite directions from said connection, each of said armshaving a channel therein for the passage of liquid and each of said armshaving outlets disposed alternately upon the front and rear sidesthereof, nozzles in communication with said outlets each having acentrifugal chamber provided with an outlet concentric with the axisthereof and an inlet eccentric to said axis, and a movable orifice platemounted adjacent said inlet, said orifice plate being provided with aplurality of orifices differing in size and means to move said orificeplate to bring said orifices respectively opposite the inlet of saidchamber.

3. In apparatus for distributing viscous road binding liquid, a spraybar having an inlet connection and arms extending in opposite directionsfrom said connection, each of said arms having a channel therein ofsubstantially rectangular cross-section for the passage of liquidtherethrough, and each of said arms having outlets disposed alternatelyupon the opposite side walls thereof, nozzles in communication with saidoutlets, each of said nozzles being provided with an inlet eccentric tothe axis of the nozzle and an outlet concentric to the said axis,casings on the sides of the spray bar each individual to a nozzle, anorifice plate rotatably mounted in each of said casings, each of saidorifice plates being provided with a series of orifices of difierentsizes, the orifices of each plate being adapted to be positionedimmediately adjacent the said inlet opening of the nozzle in which saidplate is positioned to control the flow of liquid from said spray bar tosaid nozzle, and readily accessible means individual to each nozzle foradjusting said orifice plates.

4. In apparatus for distributing viscous road binding liquid, a spraybar having a channel therein of substantiall rectangular cross-sectionfor the passage 0 liquid therethrough, said channel having outletsdisposed alternately upon the opposite side walls thereof, nozzles incommunication with said outlets, each of said nozzles being providedwith an inlet eccentric to the axis of the nozzle and an outletconcentric to the said axis, casings on the sides of the s ray bar eachin dividual to a nozzle, an ori ce plate rotatably mounted in each ofsaid casings, each of said orifice plates being provided with a seriesof orifices of difi'erent sizes, the orifices of each plate beingadapted to be positioned immediately adjacent the said inlet opening ofthe nozzle in which said plate is positioned to control the flow ofliquid from said spray bar to said nozzle, and readily accessible meansindividual to each nozzle for adjusting said orifice plates.

In witness whereof, I afiix my signature.

JOSEPH C. WOODCOCK.

